From streetboy to presidential aspirant: Meet Professor George Wajackoyah

Professor George Wajackoyah has shown interest in the presidency. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

Professor George Wajackoyah became an internet sensation Saturday after he officially announced his presidential bid and outlined his pledges ahead of the August presidential elections. 

The lawyer pledged to create eight prime minister positions in his government, personally serve as the Immigration minister, suspend the constitution for six months, change the working days to Monday through Thursday, legalise bhang and sell it to clear Kenya's loans.

His eight-point manifesto caught the attention of Kenyans, with the Standard Digital tweet on the same attracting almost 2,000 retweets and 5,000 likes, 20 hours after it was posted.

Early life

The 61-year-old professor was born in Matungu in the western part of Kenya. Unfortunately, his parents divorced and abandoned him at the age of three.

Frustrated and in a quest to find his mother, Wajackoyah set out to Busia, with an aim of travelling to Uganda, where he heard she had moved to.

But as fate would have it, they would not reunite. He met many challenges along the way. However, he also met strangers who were willing to give him a helping hand.

"A Somali man in a truck brought me to Nairobi with an intention of taking me to be a herdsboy somewhere in Mandera. Unfortunately, on his way to buy a packet of milk in a shop along Jogoo road, he was run over by a vehicle," the professor told KTN News in a previous interview. 

With nowhere to go, Wajackoyah spent years on the streets of Nairobi, roaming around with other boys who were also homeless before a well-wisher rescued him.

He was lucky and not so long after, the late JJ Kamotho, the Education Cabinet Minister at the time, was informed of his plight and helped pay for his school fees at St Peter's Mumias Boys High School for his A-levels.

"I did my Form 5 and 6 but did not get enough grades to go to the University," he says.

Career

After Wajackoyah completed his studies, Kamotho reached out and convinced him to enrol in the police service where he worked for more than nine years.

During his time at the force, he suspects he stepped on toes when investigating the death of the late Foreign Affairs Minister, Robert Ouko.

Being a spy, he says people thought he run away with a sensitive dossier on Ouko's case murder.

Wajackoyah was arrested, beaten and detained before he was rescued and taken into exile in the United Kingdom (UK). He, however, failed to disclose much on the matter that was in court.

In the UK, he spent time studying. He would dig graves and pay for his fees.

He later moved to the US where he taught Law and Economics, Human Rights, Comparative Constitutional and International law.

Wajackoyah holds an LLB (Hons) from the University of Wolverhampton (UK), CCL/LLM, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, LLM University of Warwick (UK), LLM University of Baltimore, and Advanced Diploma in French from the University of Burundi.